
South Sudan
Our Team
Senior Management
The UNDP Resident Representative (RR) is the accredited senior UNDP official in the country who represents, leads, and is accountable for, harnessing and directing the full potential of UNDP’s global capabilities, and those of its associated funds and programmes, in support of national development strategies and collaborative partnerships. The Resident Representative is supported by two Deputies, one for Programmes and one for Operations. The UNDP Office in South Sudan is made up of about 200 staff in South Sudan.

Dr. Samuel Doe
Resident Representative
Dr. Samuel Doe is UNDP’s Resident Representative in South Sudan since January 2021. Dr. Doe previously served as Resident Representative of UNDP Sierra Leone, as well as Senior Policy Advisor and Team Leader, Fragility, Risk and Resilience of the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support and Team Leader in the Policy and Planning Division of the Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery both of UNDP. In 2007, he was named Development and Reconciliation Advisor for the UN in Sri Lanka where he worked to resolve the conflict in Sri Lanka between Tamil and Sinhalese communities and later joined the support team for the Secretary General’s Advisory Panel on Sri Lanka as Senior Political Officer. Dr. Doe began his career with UNDP as Senior Conflict Prevention and Civil Society Development Expert with the Pacific Regional Center in Fiji. Prior to UNDP, Doe was a cofounder of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), the largest peacebuilding network in West Africa. He lectured at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at the Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia, USA; the European Peace University in Vienna Austria, and the Caux Scholar Programme in Caux Switzerland. Dr. Doe possesses a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Liberia; a Master of Arts in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University (USA); and a Ph.D. in Social and International Affairs from Bradford University (UK).
Titus Osundina
Deputy Resident Representative, Programmes
Mr. Osundina has over 28 years’ experience in Leadership, Programme and Operations Management, Humanitarian support, Emergency relief, Sustainable Development and Peacebuilding.
He joined UNDP South Sudan in September 2022 from UNDP Burundi where he was Deputy Resident Representative, Programme and Operations after serving in the same position in Comoros Islands where he wore another hat as the COVID-19 Coordinator for the UN. Prior to that, he served as UNDP Deputy Country Director, Operations in Guinea Conakry, Tanzania and Burundi. Earlier on, he served as Operations Manager of the first UN Joint Office in Cape Verde.
Before joining UNDP in 2006, Mr. Osundina worked with UNICEF for over 13 years as the Deputy Resident Representative (Operations) in Cameroon, Mauritania and Congo Brazzaville. Titus joined the United Nations System as the first Head of Human Resources of UNICEF Nigeria after working for the Oyo and Osun State Governments and as a Lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Idah in Nigeria.
He holds a master's degree in Business Administration, Bachelor of Science in Economics, a Diploma in Leadership in Public Policy and Advocacy for Children’s Rights, PRINCE 2 Certification and currently a Facilitator of UNDP Managing Successful Programme (MSP).
Mr. Osundina is a recipient of various Awards including the Certificate of Special Recognition by the RBA Director for exceptional performance and outstanding contribution to UNDP mission in 2021. Titus is a believer in people with focus on fostering human development through team works and creation of conducive working environment and highly motivated workforce.

Debab Asrat Ynessu
Deputy Resident Representative, Operations
Debab Asrat Ynessu is a seasoned Operations Management professional with over 20 years of experience in Operations Management. She has served as a Deputy Resident Representative - Operations for UNDP in East, Central, and West Africa. Prior to joining the South Sudan Country Office Team in July 2023, Debab served in the same capacity at the UNDP Country Offices in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia.
Before joining UNDP, she held senior positions, the last one being serving as the Chief Financial Officer for Ethiopian Airlines, where she was in charge of the airline’s financial resources, including airline acquisitions.
Ms. Debab has a master’s degree in Business Administration and is a fellow of ACCA (Association of Chartered and Certified Accounts-UK). She is multilingual – fluent in French and English and her mother tongue, Amharic.